THE ROVER — David Michod Interview

I’d talked to David Michod before, for 2010’s ANIMAL KINGDOM, and was struck then, as now, at the contrast between the man and the filmmaker. Michod himself is a gregarious, upbeat guy. His films are riveting, terrifying meditations on the evils of which humankind is capable.

When we spoke by phone on June 12, 2014, my first question was about the carefully plotted scenario that he imagined as bringing out the economic apocalypse in the west. For the details, check out the film’s official web site, TheRover-Movie.com. The rest of the conversation was more esoteric, as Michod explained how he sculpts sound for maximum effect in a film that uses very little, why Guy Pearce may be the best silent actor working today, and how a haircut can tell a story all on its own.

HE ROVER is a post-apocalyptic vision of the future in which it’s the economy, not armed combat or a plague, brings down western civilization. Guy Pearce plays Eric, a man unwilling, or perhaps unable, to let thieves get away with stealing his car. Alone, he stalks the three men who robbed him across the bleak Australian outback where justice belongs to whomever has the biggest gun, compassion is an expensive luxury, and human life, like everything else, is a negotiable commodity. The film co-stars Robert Pattinson, Gillian Jones, Jamie Fallon, David Fields, Scoot McNairy, Tawanda Manyimo, and Susan Prior. Michod directed from a script he co-wrote with Joel Edgerton.